After Magic Mike, 5 Other Steven Soderbergh Movies That Need Sequels

Though Steven Soderbergh has retired from filmmaking, leaving a diverse 24 year body of work behind, his legacy still stands. Channing Tatum served that legacy by fueling Soderbergh's sexy male stripper epic Magic Mike. And now Tatum is honoring that legacy with a sequel, the just-announced Magic Mike XXL. It would be the first film directed by Soderbergh to receive a sequel without him, a strange acknowledgment that one of the era's most successful commercial filmmakers was producing viable, franchise-able work.

One look at Soderbergh's filmography spotlights good films, great films, a few terrible ones, and endless sequel possibilities. It seems unusual that no one picked up on this history, whether it be to revisit what sort of action Erin Brockovich has gotten herself into lately, or to introduce audiences to The Goodest German. With his retirement, Soderbergh has ruled out returning to flesh these worlds out. But what if someone else took up the mantle instead? Here are six Soderbergh sequels we'd love to see, ideally with his involvement, but if not, without.

CONTAGION 2

This one's actually been discussed, with Warner Bros. exploring the possibility of a follow-up to the 2011 hit about a society crumbling apart socially, morally and politically in the wake of a savage worldwide infection. It's not hard to see a second chapter, about the cynical and somewhat flawed ability of society to put the pieces back together, particularly if the plan is a failure. The original Contagion was a star-studded affair not unlike disaster movies of a previous era like The Poseidon Adventure, so surely a group of solid names could join this sequel as well.

Who Should Direct?Contagion was both a high-minded observation on the speed of which society crumbles, as well as a cheap-thrills horror film. Being that this is a sequel, it's bound to lean in the latter direction. But if you want to honor Soderbergh's original vision with at least a small look at crumbling international infrastructure, you need someone who can balance the high and the low brow. Danny Boyle sounds like just what the doctor ordered.